In buying the Schaumburg, Illinois–based handset manufacturer, Google—whose Android operating system is used in many Motorola devices—will assume control of one of the mobile industry's strongest patent portfolios, company executives said.

That, Google chief executive Larry Page said in a blog post, will allow the search giant to "better protect Android from anticompetitive threats from Microsoft, Apple, and other companies." Page also predicted that the Google-Motorola combination will "supercharge Android" and boost competition in the mobile market.

In a sign of just how important Google considers the intellectual property it is acquiring, the $12.5 billion purchase price translates to $40 per Motorola Mobility share—a 63 percent premium of where the stock closed trading Friday. Under the deal's terms, Motorola Mobility, which employs 20,000 people worldwide, will continue to operate as a separate unit under the Google umbrella.

Cleary corporate partner Ethan Klingsberg, in New York, is leading the firm's team advising Mountain View, California–based Google on the acquisition, while partner David Gelfand, in Washington, D.C., is leading an antitrust team advising the company.

Investor Carl Icahn, who holds 9 percent of Motorola Mobility stock and is the company' second-largest shareholder, called the deal "a great outcome" for shareholders in a time of market turmoil, according to The New York Times.

As The Am Law Daily previously reported, Icahn has pushed the company to sell off its patents to improve shareholder value. In promoting such a move, Icahn pointed to the $4.5 billion raised by the bankrupt Nortel Networks Corporation estate during a July patent auction.

The outcome of that auction was the likely motivation for Google’s pursuit of Motorola Mobility, Reuters reports. A consortium of technology companies made up of Apple, EMC, Ericsson, Microsoft, Research in Motion, and Sony teamed up to make the winning bid, which was well above the $900 million "stalking horse" offer submitted by Google. (Federal antitrust regulators are reportedly reviewing the Nortel auction results closely.)

Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility is expected to close no later than early 2012. The boards of both companies have already approved the deal, but shareholders and regulators must still weigh in.